Stony Brook State Park is a

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "Federated state, state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on accou ...

located in Steuben County,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. It is located south of

Dansville, Livingston County, New York Dansville is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in the Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town of North Dansville, New York, North Dansville, with a small northern part in the town of Sparta, New York, Sparta in Livi ...

Dansville, Steuben County, New York on New York State Route 36.

History

Stony Brook became a summer tourist spot in the late 19th century, following the construction of a railroad in 1883. The resort fell into decline by the 1920s. New York state resurrected the area by buying the land and establishing the state park in 1928. Stony Brook was enhanced in the 1930s by improvements constructed by the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was ...

and the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

. The footprint of these government programs is evident throughout the park in the form of hiking paths, bridges, picnic areas, and buildings.

Park description and facilities

The signature attraction of the park is the eponymous brook, which is an example of small, post-glacial streams in the

Finger Lakes The Finger Lakes are a group of eleven long, narrow, roughly north–south lakes located directly south of Lake Ontario in an area called the ''Finger Lakes region'' in New York (state), New York, in the United States. This region straddles th ...

area. The small creeks and brooks in this area cut through the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

-area escarpments following retreat of the

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

glaciers, creating deep, narrow gorges, with many waterfalls, which are uncommonly accessible. Initially , the park is now . It offers two stream-fed swimming pools, picnic tables and pavilions, a playground, a nature trail, hiking, fishing and bow-hunting (deer), a campground with tent and trailer sites, and cross-country skiing. The park has an upper and lower entrance, connected only by Route 36 and trails. As do some other parks in the region, such as Fillmore Glen State Park, Robert H. Treman State Park, and Buttermilk Falls State Park, the park features a semi-natural swimming pool, created by a small dam constructed in the lower reaches of the stream.

References

External links

New York State Parks: Stony Brook State Park

{{authority control State parks of New York (state) Civilian Conservation Corps in New York (state) Works Progress Administration in New York (state) Parks in Steuben County, New York

History

Park description and facilities

See also

References

External links